Principia Wealth Advisory LLC Acquires 30 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 53.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 86 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $50,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.48.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at $10,855,043.68. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total value of $370,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,904,886. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,171 shares of company stock worth $35,163,457 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.9%

META stock opened at $697.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $587.67 and its 200 day moving average is $615.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.